Filling some time in Bristol

My wife was on a business trip in Bristol, and I took the day off and went along too. I had to amuse myself during the day on Wednesday, so it was a case of wandering around and seeing what photographic opportunities there were. Here are a few you may find interesting...

First of all, I've always liked this reflective sphere, but this time I tried a slightly different view of it:



(Sigma 10-20 at 10mm)


Then walking down towards SS Great Britain a long shot of somebody's rather thin and windswept balcony:



(Samsung 50-200 at 200mm plus cropping out some extraneous bits)


With the lighting and the architectural styles in the new developments it had a 'Miami' feel to it, ignoring the cold of course:



(Samsung 50-200 at 80mm)


And finally into the new Cabot Circus shopping centre to warm up a bit. The shiny reindeer spoils it for me, but it has some promising angles:



(Sigma 10-20 at 10mm, 1/20th at f22 to try to get the people a bit blurred, but too much light for any really slow speeds... be interesting to see what the place looks like at night.)

As I expected, security pounced as soon as I lifted the camera, even though numerous other people were using P&S cameras all over the place. I went round to the management suite and asked for a pass, and thereafter with a shiny pass on a lanyard round my neck I could take pictures of anything completely untroubled by security

nr 2 and 3 are really nice architectural shots,
i also enjoy the wideangle effect on the stairs in the last one.
the first shot dont work as well for me but i find the different content in the mirrors very interesting.

No 4 for me, nice shot.

I always imagined Brisol as a dirty grimy place that stank of muddy water, the sort of place you past and avoided on your way to Weston Super Mare

I must now make a public apology to Bristolians(?) everywhere for being so very wrong

PS; nice set of images

Actually WSM is know locally as Weston on the mud! Bristol is a beautiful historic old city with many fascinating photo opportunities. Yes, they are called Bristolians and they speak a derivation of old Somerset English known as Bristle, and you have to know the "Krek Waiter's Peak Bristle" to be understood!

There is a book published for tourists -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Load-Old-Bristle-Waiters-Dialect/dp/185306792X

I like number 4 a lot.

Shame you had to justify yourself to the management. Did you ask why the people with the p&s weren't stopped also?

If you could just borrow a chain saw and remove the tree the third shot would be even nicer...

All nice shots, and the whole taking photos in public places issue is becoming quite a hot topic.

Best wishes, Kris.

You seem to spend your spare time very good. A nice set. I like # 2 and 3 the best.

I was taking some pics in a shopping mall in Murcia some time ago and was similarly pounced on by security. Plenty of others were using P&S and phone cameras without interruption.

I didn't think about asking for a pass though. Thanks for the tip, maybe next time.

The security man (black coat, little bit of curly wire going to one ear, pretending to be Secret Service I think) was very polite, he said that 'if you want to take pictures in the centre you'll need to get a pass from the management offices'. He then explained where the offices were. I walked round there and filled in a card, which they then hung on a lanyard and gave back to me. I didn't ask about all the other people taking pictures, but I suspect that 'big black camera with a funny-looking lens' needs a pass, but a 'smallish silver camera' is exempt

D'oh, I composed it with that tree so it echoed the lines of the lower balcony...

I like the balcony shot....very clean uncluttered lines.